Dear Graduate and Exchange Students who are finishing this semester:

I wish we could offer you a more personal farewell and congratulations as you complete your last week of law school classes and begin exams and final papers. We are keenly aware of the stress that you are under because of COVID–19 and the related uncertainties regarding travel, OPT, the bar exam and employment. We share your disappointment that our scheduled May commencement ceremony will not take place as planned. The upsetting effects of the pandemic have hit everyone in the Law School hard, but students most of all.

Your fellow students, your professors, and the staff of the IU Maurer School of Law have had multiple opportunities to appreciate your professionalism, resilience, good humor, and grace. Thanks for all your kindness in this tough time. We wish you the best and really miss seeing you.

This email will discuss exams, graduation, the New York bar exam, OPT, retrieval of your belongings from the Law School, and community matters.

Exam Reminders
  1. Please see my exam memo from last week and the modified graduate and exchange student exam schedule for information about the extra time allowed for graduate and exchange students.
  2. Exams for students in the US will be on their scheduled days with morning exams beginning at 12:00 noon EDT and afternoon exams beginning at 1:00 p.m. EDT.  Final exams will be administered remotely through Canvas. You will find your exam in the assignments section of your class’s Canvas page. Your professor will give you exact instructions; please follow them and maintain your anonymity. Exam numbers are available in CareerNet. Find your exam number before your exams begin.
  3. Students taking exams outside of the United States at the prearranged times (9 a.m. local time for Asia or 2 p.m. in Europe and the Middle East) will be taking the exam the next day in your country. For example, an exam that takes place on April 29 in Bloomington will be taken by students in Asia at 9 a.m. on April 30 in Bangkok, Taipei, Beijing, Seoul, etc.
  4. As you know, exams will be graded Satisfactory/Fail/Incomplete. Any exam that would have received a grade of C or above will receive a grade of Satisfactory. Professors will be alerted when individual students require letter grades (please do not tell the professors yourself if you require letter grades).
  5. If you run into accessibility or submission problems during your exams, regardless of where you are taking them, please do not stress, and please do not contact your professors. All issues that arise during exams should be directed to exam2020@indiana.edu, and we will address your concerns and respond as quickly as possible. The staff member monitoring this email account will contact Dean Davis if necessary, so please use the exam2020@indiana.edu email rather than contacting your professor or anyone in the Graduate and International Office directly.
Graduation
  1. For bar exam and all other purposes, your official graduation date will be Friday, May 8.
  2. As you know, because of university decisions relating to the pandemic, our normal commencement celebration and recognition ceremony has been canceled. After considering many alternatives, we are looking at a tentative commencement ceremony date of December 19, 2020, which is currently the university’s winter commencement date. This date is unfortunately not certain until we hear from the main university. We understand that not everyone would be able to make it back to Bloomington, but we have tentatively selected this date or one close to it, rather than one earlier in the fall, because of conflicts with possible dates for the bar exam and uncertainty concerning when we can gather in large groups. Our hope is that our live, on-campus graduation ceremony will give those students who can attend the opportunity to walk across the stage in full regalia.
  3. We appreciated and benefited from all the input we received from individual students and via the questionnaire created and distributed by the SBA. It was apparent to us that for a clear majority of the 3L class, neither going fully virtual nor joining the ceremony of the Class of 2021 were popular options. Obviously, because future public health requirements are unpredictable, and because the university’s plans are still uncertain, ours must remain tentative.
  4. On May 9—the day you should have been walking across the stage to the thunderous applause of family and friends—we will mark the occasion with an online video presentation containing special messages to our graduates and announcing various awards and other recognition. Look for social media celebrations to follow throughout the month of May.
  5. You will be asked to conduct your final vote for graduation awards this week. You will also have one more chance to view the graduation composite photograph to ensure your photograph and name are correct. Watch for an email from Director Beck on both of these items in the next few days.
  6. Please start collecting photographs of your year(s) at the Law School. We will assemble a slideshow and will solicit your photos and messages soon.
Cap and gown and other graduation-related matters
  1. Please communicate directly with Herff Jones (the company through which graduation regalia and packages are ordered) about your cap and gown. Herff Jones will ship regalia to an address that you designate, including international addresses. Students will need to return the hood and gown (there will be a pre-paid return envelope), but you can keep the cap and tassel. Your options are:
    1. Cancel your order and request a refund by using this link. Or call customer service at 1-800-837-4235.
    2. Ask the company to ship the regalia directly to you now using this link, so you can have your regalia for photographs and receive your cap and tassel sooner. Check a prior email from Herff Jones with a link to provide your shipping info. You may keep your hood and gown until the December ceremony and ship it back to the company afterwards. Shipping will be free both ways.
    3. If you want Herff Jones to ship your regalia to you in a foreign country, you will need to take one extra step: Use the same link as in above but: 1) enter the Law School’s address in the address space (Maurer School of Law, 211 S. Indiana Ave., Bloomington, IN 47405); then, 2) in the “additional comments” section, provide your full international address including postal code, with a request to ship it there instead.
    4. Postpone your order until closer to December of you plan to come back for the December commencement ceremony. Call customer service at 1-800-837-4235.
    5. If you wish to purchase regalia to keep, you can order it from Herff Jones here. On the website, choose state (Indiana), city (Bloomington) and school (Indiana University Bloomington). This would be a separate order from the regalia you rented, so cancel the rental order and get a refund first. Regalia that you keep is even more expensive than the rental kind (e.g., $377 for full master’s regalia and $685.20 for doctoral regalia).
  2. The Office of Student Affairs will assemble graduate packages from the Law School for each student containing a composite picture of the class, specialization certificates, and any honors. We will distribute these packages in person at the Law School as soon as we are able. We will arrange to mail these packages to those who have no other way of getting them. 
Transcripts and diplomas

Please see the Law School's commencement web page for important information about commencement. These web pages provide information about how to obtain your final transcripts and diplomas. These documents come via the main university and not the Law School, but the instructions are clear and easy.

Updates about the New York bar
  1. As you have heard from Professor Goodwin, the New York bar exam has been postponed and rescheduled for Wednesday-Thursday, September 9-10, 2020.
  2. All bar forms are filled out by the Office of Student Affairs. You can send them to lawosa@indiana.edu. Currently, we cannot certify character and fitness because we cannot access individual student files. We are confident that this will change before the bar exam deadlines. Please send the materials and we will take care of them as soon as we can.
  3. If you are unsure about whether to remain in the United States until the bar exam, some of you may want to consider leaving the US after your exams and returning in September for the purpose of taking the New York bar exam only. You may be able to return for the bar using a B1/B2 tourist visa rather than OPT. But because US embassies and consulates in your country may not be open or may have long waiting times for visas, this option works best if you already have a valid tourist visa or are from a country that is part of the Visa Waiver Program (including France, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan), in which case you may apply for an ESTA visa online. Of course, returning to the US in September is dependent upon there not being travel restrictions in place that would prevent it. Contact Dean Davis or OIS to discuss your options.
Optional practical training (OPT)
  1. Please continue working with the Career Services Office, Ms. Gose and Dean Davis if you are looking for volunteer or paid legal work for your OPT period, understanding that the COVID–19 situation has made positions even more difficult to obtain.
  2. If you have not applied for OPT yet and are not sure whether you should do so, please discuss your options with Dean Davis and an OIS advisor.
  3. List Dean Davis in the “advisor” section of your OPT application on Atlas.
  4. Review OPT procedures and especially these OPT Frequently Asked Questions first.
Your books and other belongings
  1. Your lockers: The business office will be storing your locker contents for as long as needed. As things get back to normal, you will be able to pick them up.
  2. Library books:
    1. The Law Library is happy to renew any books you currently have checked out until the end of the semester. Email lawcirc@indiana.edu for assistance.
    2. Any library books you left in your locker or on your study carrel will be returned automatically.
    3. When you are ready to return your library materials, if you are still in Bloomington, you may currently return them using the book drops in front of Wells Library.
    4. If you took your library materials home with you and are no longer in Bloomington, email Ashley Ahlbrand, aaahlbra@indiana.edu, to discuss how to proceed with your return.
    5. The library will pack up students’ belongings from their carrels and store them as long as necessary.
Caring for yourself and others
  1. Please let us know if you are sick.
  2. Please let us know soon if you are facing food scarcity, housing problems, or other emergent needs. We have information about food resources, and here is how to apply for funds available from the Fromm Emergency Fund. Please note that emergency funding requests from the Fromm Memorial Fund (see above link) must be submitted by Friday, April 24. Contact Paul Leopold by phone at 812-855-7746 (preferred) or via email at iulawfa@indiana.edu to discuss financial matters. Indiana University also has emergency funds available. It is trickier to help you financially after you graduate, so please let us know if you foresee financial troubles. Let us know if you know of any other student who could use our help, financially, personally, or otherwise.
  3. CAPS has half-hour virtual counseling sessions for current students. This will be available to you until early May. The number to set up an appointment is 812-855-7688.
  4. JLAP offers group and individual appointments by Zoom. The groups include one for law students to discuss current challenges posed by the pandemic. JLAP can serve you even after you graduate and even if you’ve left the state. The number to call is 317-833-0370.
  5. Dean Davis and Professor Goodwin are always happy to talk with you on any subject you wish—even if there’s nothing concrete we can do, it sometimes helps to talk and know that you’re not alone. Please email at leedavis@indiana.edu or glgoodwi@indiana.edu to set a time to Zoom or talk by phone. If you emailed us and haven’t received a response in three days, please resend your email (sometimes an email can get lost despite our best efforts).
I speak for Professor Goodwin, Professor Farnsworth, Mr. Schaad, Ms. Ryba, and Ms. Gose when I say how much we miss seeing you, and how sad we are that we won’t have a commencement ceremony to attend in a few weeks to celebrate your accomplishments. We are so proud of all of you, and so impressed by how well all of you have handled this period of terrible uncertainty. We are wishing you and your families love, good health, safety, and peace. I hope you have found some meaning in these challenging, isolated days. Please know that the Law School family you have gained in your semesters here will be your family forever now, and Bloomington will always be a home to you. Good luck on your exams and final assignments, and we are just an email or Zoom call away whenever you need us.

Lesley Davis

cc: Law School faculty and staff